Tertiary Functions Part 1: Te/Ti/Fe/Fi

Ah yes, the tertiary functions. There seems to be a lot of varied opinions as to its inner workings and usefulness. We’ve seen everything from assertions that it can be healthy for it to replace your auxiliary function to it being only slightly more useful than your inferior. As with any set of extreme opinions, it seems to be that the truth usually falls somewhere in the middle. Needless to say, we disagree with both those extremes. Our personal experience with tertiary use would be what we might describe as playing with fire. While fire can be a very useful and effective tool, if you use it carelessly, you are bound to get burned. We feel like this encapsulates tertiary function use quite well. When used properly, it can be another powerful cognitive tool for you to draw on when needed, but get overconfident or lean too heavily into it and it could spell disaster for its user.

This is going to be the first part as we have a lot of ground to cover. In this article, we are going to focus on the Judging functions. In essence, your tertiary function tends not to be super over thought or hyper focused on. One typically just views it in a semi detached way, finding its attributes and influences on yourself as just a state of being, of sorts. So, let’s dive into each of the judging functions and the general thought and behavioral patterns that we’ve observed from them.

Te: sudden forgivable bluntness/charismatically commanding

Tertiary Te is being wielded by lead Ne and Se users. This will give it a distinct perceiver twist which generally goes against Te’s more rigid and structured nature. Being that Se and Ne users tend to have an easy going and comfortable feel about them, most of the time, the Te can come out very blunt, but be much more forgivable (by others) than when it’s being wielded in a dominant or auxiliary capacity. Those experiencing someone using tertiary Te may be surprised when it comes out in full force, possibly viewing the sudden commanding and rigid attitude as perhaps out of character.

At its best, it comes off as charismatic and commanding in a way that almost mimics lead Fe since it’s being coupled with strong Fi. Their leadership style will be full of energy and excitement and they will have no problem coercing others into following them. That excitement is frequently infectious and will be passed down to the people around them. However, the danger of wielding it without enough foresight can be a lack of efficient direction… Essentially, a state of going everywhere but not actually getting anywhere, if you will.

Ti: subtle and sudden critical insights/positive stubbornness

Tertiary Ti is being wielded by lead Ni and Si users. This gives a large amount of internalized information for Ti to make sense of. This leads to a broader Ti structure that is less specialized and dependent on itself. This causes the Ti to be less sensitive to external information that may contradict the existing Ti structure when compared to dominant and auxiliary Ti users. Those experiencing someone using tertiary Ti may be surprised when it comes out in full force, possibly viewing the sudden sharp and critical insights as out of character for the user.

At its best, it produces insightful logical connections that have taken many different pieces of information into consideration. It’ll logically reinforce their Fe decisions, giving them a confidence or positive stubbornness in regards to the logic of their actions. However, the danger is when one allows too many other perspectives to muddy their own… Essentially sacrificing the logical accuracy of their Ti system in order to include conflicting pieces of information, usually due to Fe’s desire to maintain harmony.

Fe: playful manipulation/social confidence

Tertiary Fe is wielded by the Ne and Se dominants. Again, this will give the tertiary function a distinct perceiver twist. This may cause their form of Fe to come off sharper or more Te like when poking at someone else in the group. Being that Se and Ne are usually somewhat more laid back in nature, this can give them a likeable yet somewhat mischievous feel. The actions of the tertiary Fe user can come off as more obviously calculated than their dominant or auxiliary counterparts. Those experiencing someone using tertiary Fe may be surprised when it comes out in full force, possibly viewing the sudden charismatic and warm nature as perhaps out of character.

At its best, it allows them to see how the emotional landscape is affecting those around them and how best to adapt to it. It allows them to make ties with others and form comradery. It will also produce a sense of social confidence within oneself that can be either to the user’s strength or detriment. The danger of using tertiary Fe is when they allow their confidence or charisma to be used in a detrimental way, like turning the group against a certain person. It can also result in them turning the group against themselves, as the confident attitude can lead them to be unconcerned with others’ opinions of them. Their attitude can come off as smug and self serving in these scenarios.

Fi: stubborn identity/emotional confidence

Tertiary Fi is wielded by the Ni and Si dominants. This gives a large amount of internal information for them to base their Fi perceptions off of. This makes for broader sweeping standards that cover more scenarios with less specificity. This makes Fi less sensitive to external information that contradicts its Fi perceptions when compared to it’s dominant and auxiliary counterparts. Those experiencing someone using tertiary Fi may be surprised when it comes out in full force, possibly viewing the sudden passionate or indignant objections as out of character for the user.

At its best, it produces strong and solid standards that have taken many different pieces of information into consideration and gives the user confidence in their insights. This can lead to a very confident and comfortable view on who they are. However, the danger is that this can give them an almost indifferent attitude towards the opinions of others, and how others view them. The user can become too inflexible; feeling no need to ever adjust or change themselves as things around them change.

In conclusion…

When you have a healthy pair of judging functions in the middle of your stack, you get a pretty good balance between the users inner and outer judgements that also balances both the logical and emotional data being thrown at them. Stay tuned for Part 2! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.